Voltaire Books

Voltaire's Treatiste on Tolerance is a brilliant account of the judicial murder of French Protestant Jean Calas who was accused of murdering his son who had converted to Roman Catholism. Voltaire details the case : the lack of counsel, the breaking on the wheel, burning at the stake and strangulation. Calas suffered this and continued to maintain his innocence. Through Voltaire's effort Calas was rehibilitated in 1766 and his innocence vindicated. Interspersed in the text are Voltaire's historical observations of the tolerance of the Roman Empire, the Thirty Years War, the massacre of St. Bartholmew's day were thousands perished due to religious fanaticism.

Also chronicled is the case of a young nobleman accused of not taking his hat off as a religious procession passed. He was further accused of mutilating a cruxifix that was placed on a bridge. This young man, and his friend were convicted of blasphamy and heresy and sentenced to be broken on the wheel, have his tongue torn out with pincers, and then burned at the stake. The account Voltaire provides is both enlightening and frightful. If you are interested in freedom of religion, tolerance, and freethought this is a must buy!

Voltaire's book, originally published in 1759, is a classic of world literature. At face value, it is an allegorical attack in the belief on progress of its age, but I think it is much more than that. With a plot similar to that of a picaresque novel, it tells the story of Candide, a naïve young man taught by Dr. Plangloss ("all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds") on Leibnizian optimism. Several misfortunes forces him to go on a journey throughout the world (among the lands he travels, very breezily, are his native Germany, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, South America, France, England, Venice and the Ottoman Empire). Through the book, the main purpose of his life is to meet his beloved Cunegonde, a friend of his childhood who seems to have been through as much misfortunes as him. The novel attacks not only the religious intolerance of the day, but European colonialism, and institutions then considered natural by most people, like slavery (when he meets an African slave in the Dutch colony in Surinam, the black man wonders why if the Dutch preachers tell him that all men are brothers, some peoples rule over others). In a Rousseau-like touch, the place most happy to him seems to be a place in South America, where the natives have found a shelter from the European conquistadors, and where gold is considered valueless mud. And despite being almost 250 years old, the book is very accessible (at least in the translation I have read).

Comedy or tragedy? Which makes for better literature? How about both? In fact, many of the greatest works of literature are both comedies and tragedies. Candide is probably the greatest example of such a work from a French author. Penned under a pseudonym by the great thinker, Voltaire, this work is superficially an adventure novel about the title character traveling the known world to find his love, while accompanied by Pangloss. In reality, the book is a parody of human society, culture, philosophy, and mentality. The result is a short, witty and insightful examination of the human condition. The textual level is appropriate for anyone at the high school level, but is great reading for anyone at any reading level.

All in all, one of the best works in young adult literature.

I have owned this book for quite awhile but put off reading it, fearing that it would be dull and scholarly. I was in for a wonderful surprise. His philosophy makes a lot of sense and he puts it forth in a simple story accessible to almost everyone. Many, many times I laughed out loud. It was fun as well as enlightening. The term "sixes and sevens" was used; what is the etymology of that expression? The violence is expressed in an absurd way, though we know awful things did and do happen.

Candide is an ambitious book. It should be an example for all `would-be' writers all over the world. It is not less than a frontal attack on the greatest philosopher of Voltaire's time, Leibniz, for whom the world he lived in was `the best possible'.
'Dear Pangloss (= know everything), when you were hanged, dissected, cruelly beaten, did you still think that everything was for the best in this word?' `I still hold my original opinion', replied Pangloss, `since Leibniz cannot be wrong.'

This eventful text running with dazzling speed is a masterful mockery of Leibniz's philosophy with its `causes and effects', `sufficient reasons', `(non)contingent events', `freedoms and necessities', `(pre-established ) harmonies', `souls and evils' and `natural laws':
`You expect to eat a Jesuit today; nothing could be more just, for natural law teaches us to kill our neighbor. If we don't exercise the right to eat him, it's because we have other things to make a good meal of.'

Voltaire is a fundamental pessimist: `Men have always slaughtered each other; they have always been liars, traitors, ingrates and thieves, cowardly, envious, greedy, ambitious, bloodthirsty, slanderous, lecherous, fanatical, hypocritical and foolish.'
His philosophical solution is a flight from this brutal reality: `let's work without theorizing; it's the only way to make life bearable.' The only thing left is `cultivate our garden.'
This is a cowardly, selfish non-solution, to use Voltaire's own terms. Closing one's eyes for the realities of this world should not be an option.
But how did Voltaire cultivate his garden? He profited handsomely from the slave trade. He even agreed that a ship for slave transport was named after him! A not so magnificent example of gardening.

However, this brilliant `cooking' of a philosopher's key ideas is a must read for all lovers of world literature. It should be a challenge for all ambitious writers.

To call this book a satire and suggest that it is funny, or well done, or relevant to recent times, may be true but that fails to point out what is obvious. Voltaire was a French Enlightment writer. He used wit to make his points. He made fun of the teachings of the Church but he was pushing for religious freedom. He had strong opinions and the book was a tool to presenting his thoughts. The book is considered to be one of the most significant works of Western Canon due to its portrayal of the human condition.

The story is intended to satirize the idea of optimism. The approach was developed in the events of a trip. The events of the trip allow him to interchange the tragedy and the comedy within the various situations that occurred. This is a unique approach but it allowed him to develop a look at good and evil as well as the role of God and Government in men's lives. The satirical approach allowed him cover to focus his criticism.
A simple story. Young man leaves his home but really he has to leave having been caught kissing the wrong person. Sill optimistic he joins the army. He is flogged. Later almost burned alive. He sets out to see the world but continues to believe, as he was taught early in his life, that he is indeed living in the "best of all possible worlds". It seems as though nothing goes well. One tragedy after another. Funny but sad. Then after what seems to be an endless ordeal he returns and settles for life in a garden. Even so, still optimistic perhaps, he says that "we must cultivate our garden".

His book and his story challenge the idea that "all is for the best" in a world where it is often assumed that things "work out for the best".

Ah, where to begin? If you are not familiar with the artist known as Voltaire, you should be. He has a decent voice, puts on a heck of a live show, and has wit in both his lyrics and life.

This book is no different. In it, with a tongue firmly planted in cheek, he talks about the dark and scary world of Goth...or not so scary. :)

Kind of like a Goth-for-Dummies, and funny, especially if you know the goth scene or someone in it. Pretty accurate in its depiction of Goths, and written so that you don't even need the Goth secret decoder ring to understand it, even mundanes will get a laugh out of it, and perhaps some understanding too; Goth is a lifestyle and way of thinking, and not the sinister cult that some make it out to be.

So, read the book, learn to dance and dress like a goth, and have a blast doing it.

As a Goth, This book did not tell me anything I did not already know. But if you're new to the "Scene" then I recommend picking it up. It gave me quite a few laughs (yes Goth's have a sence of humor) and was well worth the $5 I paid for it. The book was very small though, Not the size of a regular book. The book also had some very amusing pictures in it as well, It's only 94 pages of actual reading and only took me 20 mins. to read all the way through, But it was worth it. If you're a Goth just starting out, Or a person wanting to know more about the "Scene" than I would get this book, It's cheap, It has nice pictures, And Voltaire describes his life in it as well. Get it. Got it. Good.

I mean..people that belong the scene can understand this book and find it funny..but this can reforce labels that most people have, goths are just teenagers playing dressing trying to get attention..com'on, you guys!!I know is nice to say to an all-black-dressed-depressed-face-poser "smile, goth!=D", but goth it's not just this remember???I think Goth Chic is still the best book
A big label that this one brings..since when being goth is just make fun of yourself and the scene, hun???
This way the serious side of the scene will die, really..nowadays in the scene, when you try to talk to someone something serious, the only thing they can do is laugh..THE ONLY..
ps:sorry any language mistakes, my first language is portuguese

...and someone to be laughed at.

Yes, there are silly, silly moonbats out there who think that they are vampires (so *not* goth, ok?) as they retire to the "crypt" of mom's basement, where they will awake the next morning and eat Frosted Flakes before raking the leaves (Undead, indeed!).

But is Voltaire laughing at them? With them? At himself? Or at you?
He looks the part, he has infiltrated your world, only to mock you and profit from you.

For a true Goth who is not delusional or playing dress-up once a week at a club or school, this is offensive.

Voltaire is the ultimate poseur, and look at all of the cash that you throw at him. I salute him for turning Goth into the money making venture that the rest of us could never achieve.

Voltaire my old friend, SALUTE!

Very funny first book by Voltaire. If you are a Voltaire fan,this is the book for you. Or if you want to read about the gothic scene from a fun perspective, I highly reccommend this book.

Holy crap - we get it already - you dislike Leibniz.

I can appreciate satire - I love satire. But Candide is essentially a collection of horrific happenings each told as a separate joke ending in the exact same punch-line each time: "blah, blah, blah - but I guess it can't be so bad since this is the greatest of all possible worlds."

This is really satire at its lowest point. I give it two stars only because the book is a classic (albeit undeserving of the title). I've never been so relieved to be done with a book as when I finished this one.

This is a timeless story. It is one I have not read before but I recommed it to all who who want humor and insight in a story.

Amazon not only delivered my book just two days after my order was placed, but it was a brand new book and it only cost me $3.50...just the cost of shipping! Amazing service...I will definitely buy straight from Amazon in the future...especially after bad service from some sellers on Amazon.

From an optimist point of view, this book is simply in supportive of Leibniz's Best of all Possible Worlds theory. However, this book is a Voltaire's satire to Leibniz's theory. It is comical and gruesome but in the end, you learn to deal and live peacefully. You do get some interesting insight into life from this, for ex. you'll find out what the greatest vice of men is.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. A great story and important historical work in literature. Voltaire was a Renaissance Christian humanist who played a role in the development of the Enlightenment.

On the one hand, the structure of his novel Candide is Homeric, it is the journey narrative, the hero with a thousand faces, but it is a satirical restructuring of that classical motif of the hero on a quest. What is the importance of the quest in Candide? What is the quest about in the classical sense? The quest is about learning. In the classical sense the hero leaves, has to acquire some sort of knowledge, learn a set of skills that is going to help him or her enact the quest surmount the obstacles that they encounter at one point or another, and the finally what does the hero have to accomplish? What is out there the "Holy Grail" The prize, the whole quest is about attaining some sort of ultimate end or some sort of ultimate knowledge. Does it end there? No, you got to go back with that knowledge, because the quest is never just about attaining the goal, it's about bringing it home to make everybody better, to restore the community. The individual quest, the heroic quest in the classical sense always has a larger social corrective end. The purpose of the individual, the function of the individual all depends on his ability to return to the collective, whatever it is that he has found that he has acquired that is going to change the way things are. Now how does that compare to the journey or quest narrative in Candide? Contrary to the notion of what prepares us for the world, OK here is the important structure of the journey or the quest, and the critique of knowledge by Voltaire. It is contrary to the idea of the knowledge that we acquire prepares us for the world. That each new bit of knowledge that we acquire, prepares us for the next step, and prepares us for the next stage. Contrary to the idea that life is somehow to be understood or that human history is somehow to be understood as a journey organized around progress, around betterment advancement acquiring new knowledge more knowledge more science more learning, we're getting better again, Candide tells the story that goes in the opposite direction. So, then you acquire knowledge and then you spend the rest of the journey finding out that the knowledge is useless, bit by bit, and every lesson you've acquired has to be cast aside, everything you learn you have to abandon. Instead of gaining and getting better, it is throwing off, letting go, and getting worse. Where does Voltaire want us in the end to think of the notion and narrative of progress?


Of course, you know that Candide is steeped in so many of the political and philosophical controversies of the 1750's. One of his big critiques is of the philosopher Leibnitz who said that `this is the best of all possible worlds," the idea championed by Leibnitz was a simple version of the philosophy espoused by enlightenment philosophers that the existence of any evil in the world was a sign that god was not entirely good or very powerful. The idea of an imperfect god would be nonsensical. So if you are a philosopher who takes for granted that god exists, you would have to conclude logically; and here is where humanities and Christianity really start messing with each other in all kinds of obvious ways, that god is perfect if you logically conclude that god exists. Therefore, his creation, the world, and man must also be perfect. According to many enlightenment philosophers, people perceived imperfections of the world only because they do not get the plan. This is a teleological idea of the world. Now obviously Voltaire does not accept this theory, or that god or any god has to exist. Therefore, he makes fun of the idea that the world is completely good. Much of the novel is a satire addressed to the notion that the optimists who witness countless horrors and unbelievable injustice such as floggings, robberies, and earthquakes will always find a way to write it off. They will say, `oh well there must be part of a plan, even though none of these calamities seem to serve any good at all it must point to human cruelty ignorance and barbarism and points to the indifference of the natural world. Pangloss the philosopher in the book throughout the story is always trying to find some justification for the terrible things that he sees and the arguments that he makes seem increasingly to be absurd, like his quote that "Syphilis needed to be transmitted from the new world to Europe so that Europeans could taste new world delicacies. What other things is Voltaire criticizing here that connects to some of the debates that define the enlightenment period of the 1750's Religion? Religion- He criticizes the whole hypocrisy of religion. In the book, Voltaire has a parade of corrupt hypocritical religious leaders who are like the Pope that has a daughter (should have been celibate). Hard line Catholic inquisitors, a Franciscan monk who should have vow of poverty but is a jewel thief. Here Voltaire provides countless examples of the immorality and hypocrisy of religious leaders, he does not really condemn believers per say, he is really out to attack church leadership and church hierarchy. For example Jacques, who is an Anabaptist is arguably one of the most generous and humane characters.

What else does Voltaire criticize or satirize? Wealth- money corrupts; Candide seems to have more problems when he has lots of money. Things get worse he gets unhappy. An interesting point, Voltaire was deeply involved in a debate with the many deep thinkers of his time, most notably was Rousseau, who lambasted the aristocracy. Voltaire himself really moved very comfortably among aristocratic circles and interestingly the French enlightenment philosophy really took off among the French aristocracy. Since they had the leisure time to contemplate so many of the new ideas in reason, science and rationalism and his notions of progress and advancement were ideas that were principally championed and discussed by members of the French aristocracy. Therefore, it was among some of the idle members of the French aristocrats that these enlightenment philosophers were able to find their most ardent followers. Despite the fact that the church and the state were not more often that not completely allied with each other, kings could be attracted on occasion to arguments that seemed to undermine the authority of the church. The fact that the aristocrats were very much unaware of the precariousness of their position tended to make them overconfident. Dabbling in some new ideas that were part of the enlightenment movement caused them not to take seriously the kind of jeopardy they were in or what the enlightenment would lead to in the championing of the common man and the overthrow of the French aristocracy. Because they found these ideas somewhat new, interesting, and exciting and they did not really see this as at all leading inexorably to the demise of the aristocratic class. Now of course it was thinkers like Rousseau not at all like Voltaire on this particular point that made his chief adversary. Rousseau distrusted the aristocrats out of a hunger to overthrow the class but because he believed that people of wealth betrayed decent traditional values. Rousseau opposed the theatre, which is Voltaire's lifeblood; he shunned the aristocracy, which Voltaire very much courted. He courted their attention he courted their interests. Rousseau argued for something dangerous like democratic revolution, and Voltaire argued that equality was impossible it would never come about. Rousseau argued that inequality was not only natural but that if it were taken too far it would make any decent government a total impossibility. Voltaire was very charming and witty, which led largely to his success in moving about aristocratic and social circles. Rousseau insisted on his own correctness and was not a charming person to be around; he was very intense and very serious about his ideas. Voltaire endlessly repeated the same handful of core enlightenment notions, where as Rousseau was a deeply original thinker. Who was always challenging his own way of thinking contradicting himself, coming up with ideas on the equality of education, the family, the government, and the arts in a matter that was much more radical than Voltaire was ever willing to go along with. They were both skeptics, and Voltaire is nothing if not a skeptic.

What does Voltaire do with the idea of philosophy in Candide? Philosophy- What is the value of philosophical speculation? It is useless for Voltaire; it is one of Pangloss' biggest flaws. Abstract philosophical argument is not based on any real world evidence. In the chaotic world of this novel, philosophical speculation repeatedly proves to be useless, and at times even dangerous. Time and again it prevents the characters from making any useful assessment of the world around them, it prevents them from bringing about any kind of change, it prevent them from thinking that they might try to bring about some social change. Pangloss is the character most susceptible to this kind of foolishness. Example, while Jacques is drowning, Pangloss stops Candide from saving him by proving that the bay was formed for Jacques to drown in. Therefore, at the end of course at the novels conclusion Candide rejects Pangloss' philosophies. If philosophical speculation is useless, what does Voltaire suggest you put in its place? Hard practical work in general. Therefore, it is somewhat surprising in that sense that this judgment against philosophy that is portrayed in the book becomes very dramatic when we think about Voltaire's own status as a philosopher.

What about the garden at the end of the novel? At the end of the novel Candide defines happiness in raising vegetables. On the one hand it is indicative of the turning away from the following of philosophy, from the abstract speculative nature of philosophy towards something hands on something pragmatic. Does the garden have a symbolic resonance to it? Is it related to the Garden of Eden? For Adam and Eve the garden is the beginning of their troubles, here it is the end of their troubles. It is the end of the narrative the end of their quest, their journey, and the end of their travails. This is where they wind up this is where they retreat. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve do not have to work to have fruits of the garden; this garden requires work, and constant tending. In that I think the garden here represents much, more in a very different way than the biblical garden represents. An embrace of life, but an embrace of life of what? For all the horror, hardships, and nightmares that these characters experience throughout the entire course of the text, at the end, they embrace life; they take it they say yes.

The status of knowledge in Voltaire, what do we know? The garden is a final retreat from activism, or social engagement in the world. Finally, what Voltaire is saying is look go back to the basics. Do not try to change, analyze the world, or try to speculate about the nature of our existence. Retreat into your own sphere and do not mess with the world around you, because ultimately you are powerless, to do anything in this world. I think Voltaire is commenting on in a sense the Utopian impulse and imagination. Specifically as it influenced enlightenment philosophers of the period with respect to the notion of progress and advancement.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, and literature.

Incorporating the Philosophical Dictionary into this paperback along with the standards Candide,Zadig,and Micromegas makes this a must for any small library. The "Dictionary" portrays Voltaire's intellectual genius and writing flair in no uncertain terms.This is a marvelous reference item.

The book arrived in great condition in a couple of days even though I had selected ground service. It's nice to get a product that was in better condition than advertised.

(****) for the presentation but (**) for the contents.

If you love Voltaire then this is an excellent volume gathering together many of the highlights of his writing.

One can see why the major work in this volume "Candide" was a stunner in its time but as an entertainment for today it is woefully inadequate.
Voltaire makes his point about the "Best of all Possible Worlds" early on but then bores us silly with an idiotic plot about Candide's journey in which characters disappear, reappear, die, come back to life, etc. The book is "oh-so-clever but we don't feel that Candide has made any kind of personal journey by the end.

I bought this volume because I am a great admirer of Voltaire's ideas but like many of the "great works" the IDEAS are compelling but wading through the actual source material is heavy-going indeed.

"Candide" was turned into a opera by Leonard Bernstein in the 1950s who identified with Voltaire's humanist philosophy in reaction to the paranoia of the McCarthy era. This opera was a failure - not due to the music which is often magnificent - but due to the silly plot. Trying to turn this into an opera was ill-conceived from the start.

Judging from the other (generally glowing) reviews of "Candide" I know I am going to be vilified but I think people need to be warned that they may be in for disappointment.

It is said that Voltaire never lost an argument. It is strange to note, therefore, that this brilliant author and scholar, this celebrated sceptic, philosopher, and wag, reknowned throughout the world for his views and regarded still today as one of the principal leaders of ''the age of reason'', was a prejudiced and spiteful man, a nihilist and atheist whose most barbaric and sinister attacks were often directed against those who least deserved them: specifically, the Jews.
Anti-semitism, or at least some semblance of it, was not uncommon in Voltaire's age, even among the more educated and cultured members of the elite upper class of French, as well as world, society. Voltaire's contemporary, Historian Jules Michelet, wrote ''There is no better, more docile, more intelligent slave'', than the Jew. And ''intellectual'' writer Pierre-Joseph Proudhom asserted ''The Jew is the enemy of mankind''. Yet Voltaire himself was certainly among the most vocal of anti-semites, referring to his enemies as:

An ignorant and barbarous people, who have long united the most sordid avarice with the most detestable superstition, and the most invincible hatred for every people by whom they are tolerated and enriched...still, we ought not to burn them.''

The outrageous irony, hypocrisy, and sheer imbecility of this statement are glaring: even more astonishing to note is the manner in which this splendid thinker, this savant who supposedly never lost an argument, could allow his hatred and xenophobia to stand so firmly in the way of reason, going so far as to accuse the Jews of ''barbarism'' and ''superstition'' while simultaneously overlooking the trials and witch burnings that had taken place in America only a century earlier, and which, needless to say, were perpetuated by gentiles. In describing the Jews as ''ignorant and barbarous'', Voltaire seems only to be describing himself and his fellows, giving voice to his own despicable hatred and fear towards that which he did not understand and of which he was ignorant.
Voltaire's enmity towards the Jews could perhaps be overlooked, however, were it not for the fact that it consituted such a blemish, as well as such a determining factor, in his art.
In ''Candide'', for example, one of Voltaire's sharpest satires and best known writings, the author's anti-semitism and ignorance concerning all things Jewish is given stark expression in the character of one ''Don Issachar'', a repulsive old man who is regarded as one of the principal forces of evil in the world, and who attempts to rape the heroine as part of his ''Sabbath rights''.
''Candide'', on it's simplest level the tale of an optimist who in his pursuit of happiness is confronted with the randomness of life and the ugliness and barbarity of human nature, is a brilliant and scathing, if broadly painted, self-righteous and exaggeratedly pessimistic critique of human hypocrisy, a case against the existence of God and the way in which human happiness is blunted by it's own flaws. On yet another level, ''Candide'' is essentially a catalogue of man's ills. How ironic then, that Voltaire's own íntolerance and racial bigotry make their appearance so frequently (another racially slurred moment occurs in the depiction of an evil black pirate) within his story, yet are, unsurprisingly, excluded from the number of diseases that plague mankind!
One part of ''Candide''s episodic narrative involves the accidental discovery of El-Dorado by the titular character. ''El-Dorado'' is essentially a vaguely defined utopia, a magical and beautiful dream-land in which the citizens are compassionate and gentle (though none, of course, are applied with any specific racial characteristics), the streets are paved with gold, and each day is a cheerful pleasure-fest. Needless to say, Candide benefits from this situation immensely. There is a catch, however: for Voltaire states that, once one deserts it, the magical paradise of El-Dorado can never be regained. What he overlooked, though, was that the land of ''El-Dorado'' is possible to regain, granted one sows one's life with the seeds of love, tolerance, and most importantly, racial acceptance.

The portable Voltaire is the best single volume representing all his works. You don't just get the finest short novel ever written (Candide), you get Zadig, Micromegas, selections from the Philisophical Dictionary, Letters from England, and more.

This is the volume to get if you want to find out why that weird looking character was always smiling...

I purchased this book because I wanted to know more about this great writer of the 18th century. This book is full of history, you learn lots of stuff about religion and the origin of some words and, of course, you always find his particular humor.

I really enjoyed his reflections over religion and undoubtedly, this is a good book to read and grow in knowledge.

This book is about man's freedom: freedom of thought,freedom of worship, freedom of the mental encroachments that make a man think he has the right to despise, oppress, kill a fellow human being because he is different. This book is about the power of Reason,about the absurdity of racism, war, greed and violence. Voltaire was the father of modern man. His errors were the errors of his age: his wisdom is the wisdom of the better part of man.

Voltaire is one of the greatest philosophers that ever lived on earth. Even today his writings are so relevant and they surely make to much sense still so there's nothing old-fashioned or unfamiliar in any page!
Candide is his masterpiece but for a start I would reccomend you this lovely essays book that will certainly make you wiser once you finish reading them.

It is humbling and therefore difficult to even think about rating a piece of work by Voltaire. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience revisiting this book recently after reading it some 10 years ago. Much has changed over such a decade -- my own life, our surroundings, my beliefs, and, therefore, the ways I relate to literature. In that sense, it is not surprising THAT the same text would now take on rather different meanings. What fascinates me is HOW -- much of the text managed to touch me deeply both times, via totally different angles through the prism of life. It is interesting enough that the insights would evolve with one's personal development; what is even more amazing is that the ideology would also be applicable in an era nearly 300 years after the book was written -- a demonstration of what a classics is really all about.

One of the best books I ever read. It changed the way I looked at the world. This man was a genious pure and simple. He also had great literary skills and a good sense of humour too.

Nancy Mitford's Voltaire in Love is an entertaining book, full of historic characters, revealing both their best and worst attributes in politics, society, the arts, and the bedroom.

The book is primarily about the long affair between Voltaire and his mistress, Mme. Emilie du Chatelet, which was certainly a meeting of two exceptionally brilliant minds of the Enlightenment. Yet the book really covers the early adult years of Voltaire and does not cover his later successes and fame.

Voltaire, a graduate of Louise-le-Grand Jesuit School, was a brilliant but sarcastic student, who became popular with his witty poems and plays. Yet his satire often went to far which on more than one occassion resulted in imprisonment in the Bastile. Like Moliere, Voltaire wrote witty comedy that appealed to the sophisticated upperclasses. Yet early in his career he is forced into exile to London where he wrote plays for Queen Caroline and King George. Gradually his star rose in the French court of Louis XV. Queen Marie Leczinska found him charming and gave him a pension. Louis XV also gave him a pension but was less comfortable with Voltaire than was his wife and his father in law, Stanislas Leczinska, ex-king of Poland. The king's famous mistress, Mme. Jeanne-Antoinette de Pompadour, was an admirer of Voltaire also and there is some evidence that she came to his rescue when he ran afoul of the censors of Louis XV. Thus much of the book is about the highest levels of French society and their impact on the arts, sciences, and humanities.

As is the case with many bright and opinionated thinkers, rivalry and jealousy and ambition create the conditions for long lasting enemies. This is the case between Voltaire and Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, a philosopher whom Voltaire seemed to disdain. However Voltaire's primary rivalry was with Abbe Desfontaines. Abbe Desfontaines was found molesting male adolescent chimney sweeps and was sentenced to burn at the stake for sodomy. Voltaire was one of his only allies and Desfontaine was saved. Yet, amazingly, Desfontaine became extremely critical and bitter and vindictive toward Voltaire leading the reader to recognize that no good deed goes unpunished.

The attempts of Frederick II of Prussia to lure Voltaire into his court was amazing underhanded strategy. Frederick II, creating a completely male homosexual court, seemed to be obsessed with Voltaire and secretly tried to undermine him in France so that offers to come to Prussia would be more appealing.

The book however is primarily about the affair of Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet. They were quite a pair, both studious and brilliant, who allowed each other ample space to think and create. Voltaire and Emilie both popularized the works of Sir Issac Newton and advanced the fields of science and mathematics. French scholarly society prefered to continue to support Descarte's theories, primarily because he was French, a loyalty that Voltaire saw as standing in the way of rational thought. The book takes us through the many journeys of Voltaire and Emily outside of their remote mansion in the countryside. We see Emilie struggle in a game of strategy with King Frederick II for the loyalty of Voltaire. We see Voltaire trying to be supportive during Emilie's outrageous gambling addition. Her son, Florent-Francois is virtually raised in a home with two fathers. Eventually Emilie falls into lust for the handsome bright Saint-Lambert and wishes to continue her 3 man life with a rich lenient legal husband, her older more mature lover who has become her best friend, and her younger sex toy boyfriend. Unfortunately she becomes pregnant with Saint-Lambert and at age 43 dies 2 days after giving birth.

Well written, well documented, engaging, entertaining, and full of witty satiric details, this is an accomplishment that you will enjoy.

The hilarious modern comedy featuring the Ghost of Voltaire returning to the 21st century, "A Visit From Voltaire" Visit from Voltaire, A cites this book as one of the main sources for the period spanning the love affair of Madame de Chatelet and the King of the Englightenment, Voltaire. Another book that updates this information is Passionate Minds by David Boganis,Passionate Minds: The Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment, Featuring the Scientist Emilie du Chatelet, the Poet Voltaire, Sword Fights, Book Burnings, Assorted Kings, but this is the book that hooked me first. And it remains one of the best books to date, despite a few little hitches in her facts, for readability, entertainment and capturing the spirit of Voltaire's middle years. Anybody who reads it will finish with a wonderful understanding of the man's energy, resilience and courage. A must.

I couldn't put this book down, and tore through it in a matter of days. Despite being a voracious reader, it's (sadly) seldom that such a book comes along for me. The main draw for me in purchasing this book is being an avid fan of Voltaire. I had wondered just how strongly the "love story" element of the book would play out, as I'd known prior to purchasing this book that all of the intimate correspondence between Voltaire and Emilie has been lost. I'm not a "love story" kind of person, and was hoping this book would provide more of a strong picture into the personalities, foibles, strengths, habits, and routines of Voltaire primarily, and Emilie secondarily. I was not disappointed.

If you count yourself a lover of Voltaire -- the man and his writings -- then this book is truly a must-read for you. I've read much of his essays, philosophy, short stories, et cetera, and finally (to my immense delight) feel I "know" the man.

The personalities and temperaments of both Voltaire and Emilie were rather as I'd figured they would be, although there were a couple of genuine surprises -- some flattering, some not so flattering.

What continues to make me curious is how these two persons defined the word "love"...the dynamics of their relationship and love was interesting, and sometimes confusing, to say the very least. Ah well, I'm speaking of dead persons here. Respect for their personages and for the deceased prohibit me from going further. And besides, after nine years of marriage, I too admit the word "love" has a myriad of nuances.

Please enjoy this book! Ecrasez l'infame!

it is NOT a biography. It is a bounch of events glued together. At times I felt lost because she jumps from one topic to another and makes the reader confused when she throws a few strange sounding names without explaining who they were. As for the research of the subject I can't comment on the french part, however, on the polish side, the author didn't do a whole lot research because she couldn't even spell the name of an ex-King of Poland correctly! It's Stanis³aw Leszczyñski, not Stanislas Leczinski!!! She also undermines the linguistic abilities of the readers, thinking maybe that no-one but the French can really figure out the french language. I would not recommend this book if you really want to learn something about Voltaire and his love life, because there was no love life in that book!!

Nancy Mitford was a brilliant writer, and the bedrock of virtually all her works - even the histories - was satire. And, true to the first law of all satirists, she takes no prisoners, even in dealing with such luminaries as Voltaire and his lover, Mme du Chatelet. From the very start, for instance, she tells us that Voltaire rarely had any original thoughts: his true genius was in his turn of phrase. In fact, to Mme du Chatelet's great embarassment, he was likely impotent, was virtually banished from Versailles, flirted outrageously with the openly gay King Frederick of Prussia and, later, developed an infatuation for his own niece.

Mme du Chatelet does rather better in Mitford's estimation - she is portrayed as a gifted scientist and an independently important literary figure - but as a lover, she too is deeply flawed. Time and again, she drove Voltaire close to bankruptcy with her gambling debts. And her premature death was brought on by childbirth - not Voltaire's baby, mind, but those of her "toy boy" lover. Yet it is clear that, for all that, she had met in Voltaire her true life partner, and within their own adulterous union, they tolerated each other's infidelities with good grace.

A classic chronicle of human foibles by an author who is utterly unintimidated by her biographical subjects.

Book was on the used list but it looked absolutely brand new to me. A great deal.

I expected a book with underlined and highlighted pages
but this one was much cleaner than what I expected.

well first of all wish you best of luck im about to take in a few days so wish me luck too but this book is a good book to study on being the company is in charge of the test

I felt confident going into the AP test after I read the book. The multiple choice is very helpful and the essay tips are especially well written and informative.

This book was really good! The information on writing essays was pretty good, but the best part of the book was the review of history. I use the word "review" because that's what it was; it didn't set out to teach you everything, just refresh your memory. But it does give you all the important information -- I could look up everything for the practice tests in the book. I do have to say that the practice tests are a LOT harder than the real test, but it's better than them being too easy. This was the only study material I used for the exam and I got a five (and I have to say, our teacher was pretty bad).

Candide is another one of those books I wish I'd been forced to read at some point in my education, whether in my comparative literature classes in high school (which as previously mentioned, wasn't very comparative if the teacher didn't care for the author) or in one of my several philosophy classes in university. Either way, it's been on my list of books to read for ages now, and seeing as David had it on a shelf, unread and lonely, I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

Candide is a fast read, something that I was three-quarters of the way through after my commute on Monday (thirty-five minutes each way) and finished after another half-hour of light reading this afternoon after returning from the doctor's surgery. The only real way to describe it is to imagine what would happen if Camus travelled back in time and decided to write a book with Swift. Candide is funny, sarcastic, satirical, and incredibly entertaining, which is surprising considering I didn't exactly have the best translation in the world at my disposal. It's the story of a young and naïve servant to a nobleman and how his journey in life, most of which is taken up with seeking after his unrequited love, is filled with sadness and joy, and how his outlook determines the course of his action.

Like most satirists, Voltaire did not stop to consider friends or enemies: he took shots at everyone from the Catholic clergy to Protestants and even his own philosophers who continue to espouse beliefs even after they no longer believe in them because "it is the proper thing to do." Brilliant, witty, and clever, this is probably one of my new favourite satirical works, right up there with "A Modest Proposal." It's definitely not something that would be enjoyed in a required university class, but anyone who's studied comparative religion or philosophy, or is at least familiar with the absurdities in all philosophical systems, should enjoy this book.

"Candide," subtitled "Optimism" and purporting to be "translated from the German of Doctor Ralph with the additions which were found in the Doctor's pocket when he died at [the Battle of] Minden in the Year of Our Lord 1759," is the single work of Voltaire that continues to be read and recognized as a canonical work of Western literature. A mere seventy-five pages long, it is an amusing and, at times, cruel book that satirically lays waste to many philosophical ideas of its time while simultaneously illuminating the mind, the temperament and the personal conflicts of its author, a man who, perhaps more than any other, came to define the intellectual spirit of eighteenth century France.

At its most abstract level, "Candide" examines the age-old question of why a supposedly omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent god would create a world so afflicted with evil and suffering. This question particularly troubled Voltaire following the great Lisbon earthquake and fire in November 1755, which killed as many as forty thousand people.

Hence, in the very first page of "Candide," the reader encounters one of literature's most famous characters, Pangloss, the learned tutor of Candide, who "gave instruction in metaphysico-theologico-cosmoloonigology." Echoing the popularizers of Leibniz, the early eighteenth century German philosopher, Pangloss espouses the notion that there cannot be cause without effect, that we live in the best of all possible worlds:

"It is clear, said he, that things cannot be otherwise than they are, for since everything is made to serve an end, everything necessarily serves the best end. Observe: noses were made to support spectacles, hence we have spectacles. Legs, as anyone can plainly see, were made to be breeched, and so we have breeches. Stones were made to be shaped and to build castles with; thus My Lord has a fine castle, for the greatest Baron in the province should have the finest house; and since pigs were made to be eaten, we eat pork all year round. Consequently, those who say everything is well are uttering mere stupidities; they should say everything is for the best."

From the introduction of this philosophical idea, Voltaire proceeds to narrate a dizzying tale (really, a series of tales, like Chinese boxes or Russian dolls or the Arabian Nights) of the adventures of Candide, Cunegonde, Pangloss, Cacambo, and a host of other characters, adventures that include war, torture, dismemberment, and death and utterly confound any claim that we live in the best of all possible worlds. At the same time Voltaire satirically challenges certain prevailing ideas, however, he also introduces a plethora of personal, political and historical references, thereby making "Candide" a sort of literary and intellectual cornucopia of Voltaire's thought. In the words of Robert Adams, the able translator and editor of the Norton Critical Edition of the work, "`Candide' is at the same time a novel of abstract ideas with long, complex histories and a highly personal book, into which Voltaire poured an immense amount of himself-his experiences, his enmities, his learning, his desires, his anguish."

The Norton Critical Edition of "Candide" contains extensive and useful background materials on the text, including valuable discussions of the philosophical ideas adumbrated in Voltaire's tale and excerpts from critical studies, books and letters that have been published over the years since the book was written. Among these materials, "Gestation: `Candide' Assembling Itself", an excerpt from Haydn Mason's 1975 book on Voltaire, is particularly useful in understanding the context in which Voltaire wrote, including the effect that the catastrophe in Lisbon and the Seven Years' War had on his thinking.

Having enjoyed Leonard Bernstein's Candide for a long time and just read my way through the Candide inspired Sotweed Factor, it was time to get through to the source.

Upon completing the original French version, it is no wonder that this book is such an inspiring perennial classic. I very much object to the notion that this book is an anti-everything nihilist manifesto. Some words of explanation.

During the age enlightment mankind made big strides in some areas of science. The development of differential calculus by Newton and Leibniz suddenly allowed mankind a better understanding of the way "God ran the Universe". Based on these supposedly universal laws, Leibniz took the stance that our world could not be anything else than the one and only perfect solution that a divine power had found to the self-imposed problem of creation. The best of all possible worlds.

Against this backdrop Voltaire wrote his satiric redux of Homer meeting Cervantes to discuss the book of Job. In a style that (in the original French) is light and whimsical Voltaire debunks the notion that life takes place in an ordered universe. He certainly is not against everything, but rightfully speaks out against idiotic notions on the virtue of war and cruel religious blindness.

Voltaire has left us with a very light, funny and user-friendly fairytale, that may not be quite up there with the great Homer and especially Cervantes, but deserves a place on every bookshelf.

No the story doesn't change from edition to edition, but the supplementary material provided does change. Candide isn't just some hectic adventure story. It really fails as literature in this regard, and certainly Voltaire's purpose was not to make you chuckle while you whiled away a few empty hours. He would weep to think that you missed out on what he was really trying to tell you. Rest easy. I am not going to launch into a stuffy monologue on Leibnitz and 18th century French Catholicism, but in essence you should know that this is the essence of the story. The philosopher Leibnitz (who with Isaac Newton independently invented Calculus) explained the existence of evil in the world thusly: God, in his infinite wisdom, thought of all possible worlds that he could create, and he chose this one; therefore this must be the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire was also continually chastising the Catholic Church for it's lack of tolerance of other beliefs, and for its aristocratic pomp.

Enter now the Norton Critical Edition of Candide. This book presents the 75 page story along with 130 additional pages of various articles and essays on the times in which it was written; commentary by Voltaire and by his contemporaries; and critiques of the story by modern writers. Sure there are always a few dull, academic essays making their mandatory appearance in a book like this, but my suggestion is just to skip them. After all there are a lot of them to choose from.

Learn the story behind the story so to speak. After all it is the background of Candide that makes Candide the forceful satire that it is.

The French writer Voltaire's (1694-1778) novel 'Candide' is a biting, satirical, cynical, and inimical story of an inexperienced and innocent young man who is much misled early in life by Pangloss, his philosophy teacher. Tragi-comical in style, the whole work is certainly the spiritual forefather of 'Waiting for Godot', but it is vastly inventive, the satire is funny, and the action rollicks around the world in a rapid succession of colorful and exciting places. Candide alternately fights for his life, flees for his life, ponders the meaning of life, makes his fortune, or simply travels to stave off boredom. If this were a Mel Brooks film it would be a cross between 'Blazing Saddles', 'Men In Tights', and 'Life Stinks'. There is a grisly and surreal cartoon element to the proceedings with characters constantly being killed by sword, fire, hanging, earthquake, drowning, and whatever, who then come back to life when you least expect it, looking much the worse for wear.

Candide may be on a journey of discovery, but he is just not able to understand anything he discovers. In the school of life he is certainly bottom of the class, and seemingly aspires to stay there. Pangloss has taught him that however things appear, life is arranged so that, 'all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds' - which sounds to me like a parody of a famous scripture from the New Testament letter to the Romans. This absurdist Positive Mental Attitude is then slowly and relentlessly beaten out of the hapless Candide, who learns some of the practical lessons of life while never actually being in danger of learning anything about its meaning and purpose. All in all, anyone who believes in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the empirical philosophy of the good and sensible British school, or any Eastern religion in general, will find their ideas roundly lampooned, insulted, and mocked herein.

Candide starts life in Germany, rattles around Europe, travels to South America and finds El Dorado, gains and looses a vast fortune, returns to Europe, visits Turkey and Persia, and is thrashed by three philosophers in Denmark. The narrative obiter dicta may state that 'In life everything grows wearisome', but the Candide view is: 'Everything is not so good as in El Dorado; but everything is not too bad'. An exhaustingly banal conclusion.

It is difficult to see what positive views are contained in this book. Everyone is denigrated. Nothing is sacred and therefore nothing really matters. Everything finishes downbeat, so this is a dangerous work to read with a too-open mind. In fact, the whole book reeks of what sociologists self-congratulatingly call the 'debunking motif', which explains the tenor of the whole. Voltaire was famed abroad and prolific in his lifetime, but time has proved that trenchantly 'being against things', however right you may be, does not bring a lasting fame worth having. 'Candide' is but a small sliver of Voltaire's life output, and his situation reminds me of the works of the ancient Greek Archilochus, who, a century after Homer and Hesiod was dubbed the first 'poet of blame'. But unlike the classics of Homer and Hesiod, only slivers of Archilochus' works remain to this day, whilst his waspish reputation has survived quite well.

One of the more interesting and amusing characters in history, Voltaire is surprisingly little known in today's world. During his time he seems to have had the ability to annoy everyone. Jailed, exiled, he kept turning up and continued to satarize the upper classes from whom he seemed to crave acceptance.

This new biography is written with somewhat the same attitude of irreverance. It's light and amusing while at the same time conveying both the story and the tone of Voltaire's writing, philosophy and life.

Particularly interesting is the political interplay of the times when the leaders of various countries and empires are dealing with each other to see who is going to rule. This was a time just before the American Revolution (Voltaire associated with Benjamin Franklin during his stay in France). It was a time when the seeds were being sown for the French Revolution when the world of Voltaire was turned upside down.

I was once asked the question, "If you could have lunch with one famous person, living or dead, who would it be?"

My answer: Voltaire.

Francois Marie Arouet, (1694-1778) who took the pen name "Voltaire" for reasons still unclear, (the author lists some guesses but doesn't choose one) was the 18th century itself, distilled into a frame so thin that it appeared as though a good stiff breeze could blow him away. But not only did he live to the age of 84, he also wrestled one of the most powerful institutions in history, the Catholic Church in France, virtually to a standstill. One of the most prolific writers of all time, he is said to have churned out a million words during his life: plays, essays, letters, poetry, satire. He never wrote a novel; novels were considered trashy entertainment in his day and he never cared to write one. He isn't read much anymore, not even in France, and he is remembered today not so much as a philosopher in his own right, but as a brilliant, witty popularizer of other people's ideas. But his razor-sharp French prose style was the envy of the young Rousseau, who ultimately went on to have an even greater and more profound impact on the world.

What inflamed Voltaire's passion inflamed his need to write, and nothing did the trick more quickly than intolerance and injustice. Imprisoned more than once himself, Voltaire repeatedly put himself in jeopardy defending in print the victims of injustice and religious bigotry, a particular plague of his age, and launching one spirited attack after another on their tormentors, those in political and ecclesiastical power, which in 18th century France were pretty much two sides of the same coin.

Small wonder I wanted to have lunch with him. And small wonder that Roger Pearson has given this delightful biography the subtitle "A Life In Pursuit Of Freedom." Each chapter has a title and a descriptive summary, in the style of an 18th century novel. In lively and witty prose, Pearson takes the reader from Voltaire's inauspicious beginnings (he was an illegimate child who was expected to die) to his first clashes with the authorities, (he spent close to a year in the Bastille when still only 23) his liaisons with one woman after another, the business dealings that made him wealthy, his sojourn in England, (where he found the relatively tolerant atmosphere refreshing enough to publish a series of "English Letters") his rocky relationship with Frederick the Great, and the whole cavalcade of one of history's most colorful and brilliant lives, leading right up to his retaking by storm, in the last days of his life, the very Paris from which he had been so often banned.

As the decades running up to the French Revolution, which Voltaire helped start but didn't live to see, roll by, Pearson traces every parry-and-thrust of the life of a writer in an age and a society in which writers were closely watched and frequently harassed by the government, their works censored and sometimes burned, their personal freedom never completely secure. Observing his dartings around Europe, hopping over a border here, leaping into a midnight carriage there, in order to stay ahead of those who would imprison him again, one wonders how Voltaire ever got anything written. But write he did, compulsively, exhaustively, and on an array of subjects that would fill a dictionary. (One of his best-known works is, in fact, a "Philosophical Dictionary.") By the time of his death, while the war against intolerance and bigotry was far from won -- most likely it never will be, entirely -- nevertheless the ideals of the French Enlightenment had already borne fruit on this side of the pond, the American Revolution being in full swing in 1778, and it was possible for writers in France and elsewhere in Europe to express their ideas with much less fear of the authorities than ever would have been possible in Voltaire's youth.

Will Durant wrote in 1965, "When we cease to honor Voltaire we shall be unworthy of Freedom." Read this book. Meet the man.

While the "Almighty" in the title goes against my grain given the book's freedom-loving, deist, and most human of subjects, this biography is well worth reading. Professor Davidson writes in a light style, which pays fond homage to that of this great figure of the Enlightenment.

Another good book on Voltaire came out in 2004, "Voltaire in Exile" by Ian Davidson. If you want a full life biography, go with "Voltaire Almighty". If you are mainly just interested in Voltaire's later life and work in advancing human rights, go with Mr. Davidson's worthy effort. Or, read both and compare.

Voltaire has been part of my life for nearly a quarter of a century, ever since I picked up a copy of The Portable Voltaire at a used bookshop near my high school for one dollar. I made the purchase at the suggestion of a pretty girl who I never did convince to go out with me. I guess that's not really relevant to anyone but me, except that Voltaire does write about how heartbreak (which is what that frustration seemed to be at the time) can be a stone on the path to enlightenment.

Whether that disappointment and the many that followed inched me closer to real enlightenment over the years, I can't say. But one of the first times I ever remember feeling more enlightened than many of my peers was as it dawned on me that my familiarity with the 18th-century philosopher and writer was all but unheard of among South Floridians in their late teens (and even among most of their teachers).

I must admit I've always been puzzled by Voltaire. Despite my long exposure to his work, I cannot identify a single component of his beliefs that I have adopted as part of my core philosophies. Only a couple of his lines have stuck in my memory over the years, and even upon re-reading it as an adult I found Voltaire's seminal work Candide a bit of a slog. Yet I continue to think of him as one of the most important factors in my intellectual formation, for reasons I assumed too vague or subtle to pinpoint.

With an eye toward discovering why that is, I picked up a copy of Roger Pearson's new biography, Voltaire Almighty: A Life in Pursuit of Freedom. Previous biographies I've seen were too academic or too technical to hold my attention for long. But after leafing through it, I had high hopes for Mr. Pearson's effort.

I was not left unrewarded, even though I consider the biography only a mixed success. Mr. Pearson, I think, tries too hard to overcome the weakness of most academic biographers who produce informative but utterly boring works. He does this through the use of humor that is at first refreshing but quickly becomes irritating. I don't think this biography covers any significant new ground in Voltaire's life, but many of the stories I had read or heard in the past are retold here in a mostly readable way (at least when Mr. Pearson does not try to be witty).

What is new is the way Mr. Pearson relates some of these anecdotes to what we know of Voltaire's iconoclastic beliefs. Take the fact that he refused to cover up that his birth in 1694 was the result of an illicit affair between his mother and an intellectual and songwriter called Rochebrune. While most people of his generation would seek to obscure such ignoble circumstances, Voltaire instead venerated his mother for preferring Rochebrune's "wit and intelligence" to the company of her attorney husband, who, Voltaire said, was "a very mediocre man."

Similarly, his selection of the pen name Voltaire -- he was born François-Marie Arouet -- was his unusual way of escaping the wrath of French censors. He denied authorship of works that were clearly his, and he lived most of his life in exile outside his native France.

Mr. Pearson calls attention to the fact that while Voltaire was best known as a playwright during his lifetime, and he first came into the public eye as a writer of satiric verse that his lasting value comes from his historic work. A historian, not in the sense of a chronicler of battles and kingdoms, but in his discussions about the zeitgeist of his age: art, literature, philosophy, and economics. The presentation of these aspects and his biographical details may be flawed, but they can hardly fail to entertain and inspire.

Which leads me to the conclusion Mr. Pearson's work helped me to come to regarding the personal importance of Voltaire in my own life. More than any agent of information about the Enlightenment, Voltaire's value I think comes from his ability to inspire, to stimulate readers to think for themselves -- something I think he did (and still does) for me. Not a bad endorsement, I'd say.

Pearson's book is "accessible." It does cover all of Voltaire's life. There are some nice photographs. It is also, however, chatty and superficial. I had expected at least some exploration of the ideas and the art that gave rise to Voltaire's vast reputation. I am no pedant - a mere college undergraduate type of treatment probably would have been adequate. Alas, in Pearson's book Voltaire seems almost a dilettante, pampered and frivolous. I hope such fluff is not what one has to put up with in order to obtain an "accessible" biography of a great man. I actually got a much better notion of who Voltaire was from reading the introduction to The Portable Voltaire. This was simply unsatisfying. I am now looking to read something more substantial.